So I have watched this film every year around Passover for as long as I can remember. I love it dearly. I was lucky enough to see it on the big screen at the Castro Theatre here in San Francisco yesterday in gorgeous restoration (it’s a shame my DVD screencaps below aren’t from the restoration; they pale in comparison to what I saw projected yesterday). The Ten Commandments was the highest grossing film of 1956 and was nominated for seven Academy Awards, winning one: Best Sound, Best Film Editing, Best Color Cinematography, Best Color Art Director, Best Color Costume Design, Best Special Effects (won) and Best Picture. The other films nominated for Best Picture that year were: Friendly Persuasion, Giant, The King and I and winner Around the World in Eighty Days.

Earlier this morning I participated in a virtual roundtable/Q&A about film restoration and conversion between Jeff Baker who is the Executive Vice President and General Manager Warner Bros. theatrical catalog, Ned Price who is the Vice President of Mastering at Warner Bros. and Andy Parsons who is the chair of the Blu-ray Association of America. By participated, I mean I watched the livestream of their conversation and asked a question via text after it was finished. Presented after the cut are what I think are the most interesting parts of the conversation, as well as the question I asked. While I am still one of those people who buys most of my films on DVD over Blu-ray (tell me how you screencap Blu-rays you bastards and I’ll switch!) the process behind how films get chosen, etc. is pretty fascinating.